Riley Cabrera
Riley Cabrera is an recurring character in Glee: The Next Generation. He made his debut in We Made It in a small scene that established him as the new Vocal Adrenaline lead, replacing Spider Reed, who was written off due to his character's unpopularity with fans. Riley is introduced as a second-year sophomore at Carmel High School and will serve as a major antagonist. He is described as being very different than Spider, and more along the lines of Archie Carmichael, as he is a charismatic, charming, and calculating. But while Archie had his moments and seemingly redeeming qaulities, Riley has been shown to be nothing but a bully. Riley was created by Glee: The Next Generation creator and writer JamesonOTP and is portrayed by Lucas Till. Background Riley was a character created to replace Spider, who was intended to be the new long term Vocal Adrenaline lead and main antagonist. However Spider's immense unpopularity with fans lead JamesonOTP to craft the role of Riley with Lucas Till in mind. Not a whole lot is known about Riley except that he is a second year sophomore at Carmel and Will refers to him as the best he's ever heard from Vocal Adrenaline, putting even Jesse St. James to shame. It can be assumed that he was a member of Vocal Adrenaline before becoming their new lead soloist. Biography Season 3 Riley is first introduced in the episode We Made It as Will warns New Directions of their new competition this year. Will says that Riley is Vocal Adrenaline's best yet, putting Jesse St. James to shame. He pulls out his phone and shows New Directions a video that he took at Vocal Adrenaline's Sectionals of Riley performing. Riley is shown to be performing Dream Weaver, which causes New Directions to feel as if they cannot win against Vocal Adrenaline. Riley isn't seen again until Show Choir Showdown, when he comes to McKinley as part of a "friendly" scrimmage against New Directions and the Warblers. Riley seemingly takes a liking to Rose immediately. Monique also falls for Chuck, much to Riley's disdain. When Monique cheers New Directions' performance of Hand In My Pocket, Riley expresses disgust. Riley and Vocal Adrenaline perform Don't Trust Me, perhaps a tongue-in-cheek messgae for New Directions. After the performance, Sue and Will agree that the song was highly offensive and inappropiate. Riley tries seducing Rose through a sexually charged duet, Britney Spears' Girls and Boys, ending in a kiss. After a few moments, Rose pushed Riley away, telling him that there is poison on his lips. The kiss seems to be the catalyst that makes Rose realize that she loves Kevin and is meant to be with him. Riley reveals that even though his attempt to seduce Rose was originally meant to destroy New Directions from the inside, he has actually fallen for her. Riley then sets his sights on taking out Kevin Rhodes, allowing him to get to Rose and hurt New Directions at the same time. Later, an argument erupts between Jaxon and Riley, who reveals his true colors after he becomes fed up with New Directions' "happy sunshine and rainbows enviroment." Riley's plans get sidetracked as Lana leads a musical attack on Riley set to Bully by Shinedown. As the rest of New Directions, the Warblers, and even Monique join in, it starts a heated rivalry between Riley and New Directions, causing Riley to swear that it is far from over. In Be Our Guest, Riley is first seen while Monique watches him practice for Regionals from backstage. She flashes back to the moment when Riley forces her to choose between Vocal Adrenaline and Chuck, causing Monique to lie and say that she and Chuck had broken up. Chuck comes to visit Monique, unaware of her lie, and they end up getting caught by Riley who calls Monique out on her lie. Riley tells her that if it were up to him, she'd be kicked out of Vocal Adrenaline. Monique and Chuck go to see their friends in New Directions for advice over the Riley issue, causing New Direction (minus Miles) to head to Carmel to stand up for Chuck and Monique's relationship. Riley leads Vocal Adrenaline in a sing-off against New Directions, singing Be Prepared from The Lion King. Riley assures New Directions that he's not interested in their deal to take it easy on Vocal Adrenaline at Regionals in exhange for leaving Chuck and Monique alone. Riley is never mentioned by name, but is assumed to still be in Vocal Adrenaline in What Could Have Been, when Jaxon goes to see James at Carmel and later attends Regionals. He is obviously not the lead singer as James never left and Riley was never groomed to take Spider's place. In Amy, Riley and Vocal Adrenaline still continue to practice for Regionals, singing Back To Black. Riley criticises Monique, saying that she held back and lacked energy. Monique retorts that he was flat in part of the song. He then threatens Monique, telling her that if she lets him down at Regionals, he will destroy her. During Retro Regionals, Riley is first seen with Lynsay as he scolds Monique over seeing Chuck as Chuck was with New Directions. When Monique tries to explain that her loyalty lies with her team and not New Directions, Riley refuses to believe her. When Riley says that she has made a fool of them for the last time, Monique quits Vocal Adrenaline. Riley seems unfazed by Monique's actions and when Archie walks in and ask what happened, Riley explains that Monique quit and proceeds to give her parts to a girl named Chloe. After New Directions lets Monique perform with them, Riley is seen out in the audience watching New Direction's performance. He turns to Lynsay and tells her that he was right; Monique's loyalty did lie with New Directions afterall. Right before Vocal Adrenaline was supposed to take the stage, Chuck barges into their dressing room to confront Riley over what he did to Monique. When Chuck tries to get Riley to apologize, he refuses, saying he owes no one anything, especially an apology. Riley then taunts Chuck, calling him a firecrotch. Chuck pushes Riley, causing Riley to spear Chuck. As they both hit the ground, Chuck climbs on top of Riley, punching him. The fight is broken up by three male members of Vocal Adrenaline, who pull Chuck off Riley. To add insult to injury, Riley tells Chuck that he's about to do the one thing that the Warblers could never do: win Regionals. Riley performs Criminal by Fiona Apple, seemingly gloating about what he's done as far as Monique is concerned. During Smells Like Teen Spirit, Chloe sings Monique's parts, as Riley promised. When Monique wonders where Chuck has gone, Jaxon tells her that he got thrown out for his fight and that Vocal Adrenaline got disqaulified not only for Riley's fight with Chuck, but also for purposely failing Monique, which is against the rules. He is with Vocal Adrenaline to accept the tiny trophy for coming in last due to being disqaulified. Personality Riley is one of the most malevolent people ever known to be in Vocal Adrenaline. His evil side is unmatched by even Archie, who has softened up over the years. Riley takes no prisoners, isn't afraid to speak his mind, hurls insults like they're nothing, and aims to kill with his words. He uses his charm to seduce people and get what he wants. He is the type to sleep his way to the top and to sleep with people for personal gain. He has a hair trigger temper and isn't afraid to get physical, such as when he speared Chuck at Regionals. Riley once tried to seduce Rose to take her away from New Directions before finding himself surprised that he actually fell for her. He will really stop at nothing to get his way. He's cold, cruel, and calculating, something that he can mask at will. Girls and boys both find themselves falling for him in spite of this thanks to his looks mixed with his charm and charisma, which he plays up when he needs to. Appearance Riley is tall, thin, and has a brooding pressence about him. He's very good looking but his good looks mask the malevolent personality within. His skin is pale, his eyes are an almost silver-blue, and he has blonde hair. The icy color of his eyes match his icy personality. Riley is quite aware that he rely on his looks, as well as his charm, to seduce others and get what he wants. Both girls and guys are known to find him sexy. Sexuality Riley is pansexual, able to have a sexual attraction to anyone without regards to gender or sexual identity. He is known to seduce people at will to get what he wants. An example of this was when he planned to seduce Rose and in the process take her away from New Directions. He instead fell for her, and decided that he would have to take Kevin out of the picture to be able to get to Rose and also hurt New Directions. He's never been shown to date a guy as he's only had relationships or romantic moments in the series with Monique Ducasse, Rose Mitchell, and Lynsay Jeffries. However, JamesonOTP promises that side of him will be explored in Season 4. Relationships Monique Ducasse Riliey and Monique had a small fling between We Made It and Show Choir Showdown. Although it's barely been hinted at so far, there are a few clues that this had happened. The relationship will be touched on more in Season 4. *Start Up: We Made It (3x03) *End Of: High School Musical (3x10) Rose Mitchell In Show Choir Showdown, Riley and Monique seem at odds, which is due to their break-up the week before, although this is not revealed until in Season 4. Riley takes an immediate liking to Rose because of her attitude. Riley tries seducing Rose through a sexually charged duet, Britney Spears' Girls and Boys, ending in a kiss. After a few moments, Rose pushed Riley away, telling him that there is poison on his lips. The kiss seems to be the catalyst that makes Rose realize that she loves Kevin and is meant to be with him. Riley reveals that even though his attempt to seduce Rose was originally meant to destroy New Directions from the inside, he has actually fallen for her. Riley then sets his sights on taking out Kevin Rhodes, allowing him to get to Rose and hurt New Directions at the same time. Due to the rest of the events of Show Choir Showdown, Riley forgets about his plan to take out Kevin and by his next appearance, has seemingly forgotten about Rose as he is dating Lynsay. *Start Up: Show Choir Showdown (3x11) *End Of: Prior to Be Our Guest (3x19) Lynsay Jeffries Riley and Lynsay were first seen together as a couple in Be Our Guest, although by process of elimination by when each episode and flashback takes place, it is safe to say that they started dating during the events of Idol Worship. In Be Our Guest, Lynsay is first seen with Riley when they catch Monique with Chuck. Lynsay adds in a few things to back up her man, but Riley tells her that is between him and Monique, to which Lynsay doesn't question. Monique visits New Directions for help and confirms that Riley and Lynsay are the new power couple at Carmel and are trying to impose their will on everyone else. When New Directions shows up to confront Riley and Lynsay, Lynsay laces her arm through Riley's. They perform together in Be Prepared and upon telling New Directions to get out, he tells Lynsay to come on as they go back to practicing for Regionals, showing that Lynsay is obviously subservient to him. During Amy, Lynsay is not seen interacting with Riley. She is only in the background as Monique and Riley perform Back To Black. As Riley tries to kick Monique out of Vocal Adrenaline after catching her hanging with Chuck and New Directions in Retro Regionals, Lynsay is seen clinging to Riley the entire time. When Monique says that she quits, Lynsay tells her she can't quit because Riley "fired her." When Monique performs with New Directions, Riley tells Lynsay that Monique's loyalties did lie with New Directions afterall and to think that she doubted him. Lynsay reassures Riley, telling him that they're gonna beat New Directions on their own turf. Lynsay was absent for the fight between Chuck and Riley, appearing after it ends to tell Riley that Vocal Adrenaline is wanted on stage. Riley and Lynsay both have solos in Smells Like Teen Spirit, but have no real interaction during the rest of the episode, perhaps both being too busy with being angry at New Directions. Songs Season 3 Solos #Dream Weaver (We Made It) Unreleased #Criminal (Retro Regionals) Solos in Duets #Girls and Boys (Show Choir Showdown) (With Rose Mitchell) Solos in Group Numbers #Don't Trust Me (Show Choir Showdown) (With Monique Ducasse) #Be Prepared (Be Our Guest) (With Lynsay Jeffries) #Back To Black (Amy) (With Lynsay Jeffries #Smells Like Teen Spirit (Retro Regionals) (With Katie Jordan and Lynsay Jeffries) Trivia *Lucas Till (Riley), Jennifer Lawrence (Monique), and Nicholas Hoult (James) all starred alongside each other in X-Men: First Class. All were members of the X-Men and in Glee: The Next Generation, all spent time as a part of Vocal Adrenaline. Gallery RileyBOG.jpg|Be Our Guest Rimo.jpg|Riley and Monique in Show Choir Showdown Category:Male Characters Category:Recurring Characters Category:Vocal Adrenaline Members Category:Carmel High School Students Category:LGBT Characters